QUERIES AND ANSWERS. 



Grains. 



Culinary 

 Vegetables. 



Bulbs. 



Tubers. 



Offsets. 



Broccoli. 



Cow Pea. 



Wlieat. 



enclosed in a thick tissue of growth, but the enveloping material is unpal- 

 atable and indigestible. In the case of nut-bearing plants of habits fixed 

 through original conditions or through selection based upon hereditary 

 development, the seed or nut is developed at the expense of the surround- 

 ing tissue. 



3. Q. "What is a grain ? 



A. A grain is a seed suitable for use by man for grinding or crushing to 

 meal for cattle feeding or human food. 



4. Q. "What is a culinary vegetable ? 



A. It is a plant producing, above or below ground, a development of 

 edible tissue, as the bulb of a turnip, the enlarged stalk of a kohl rabi, 

 the head of a cabbage, or the half-abortive or abnormally developed buds 

 of the cauliflower. A culinary vegetable generally requires cooking to 

 fit it for human food, but not always, as exampled in the radish, lettuce, 

 cress. A culinary vegetable in the exact sense cannot contain seeds, as 

 it is a product developed previous to inflorescence. 



5. Q. "What is a bulb ? 



A. It is an underground bud containing within itself a capacity for 

 reproducing its kind. It is generally globular in form and is composed 

 of scales or coats, one within another, familiar examples being the onion 

 and hyacinth. 



6. Q. What is a tuber ? 



A. A tuber is a solid, fleshy development from a root and containing 

 buds or eyes capable of producing its like ; a familiar example of the 

 tuber being the potato? 



7. Q. "What are oflsets ? 



A. They are young bulbs or bulblets formed on the sides of old bulbs. 

 These broken ofl" produce full-sized buds. 



8. Q. "What is the distinction between broccoli and cauliflower? 



A. Broccoli usually has a taller stem than cauliflower, leaves narrower 

 and stifler, generally undulating, ribs broad and leaf stalks long ; the 

 texture of the heads not so fine nor so white as cauliflower ; the flower 

 head of a stronger cabbage taste. Broccoli has an advantage over cauli- 

 flower in greater hardiness. It is less rapid in growth, and generally the 

 plants are carried over "Winter to develop in early Spring. Broccoli 

 should be better known and more largely cultivated in the northern sec- 

 tions of the Union. 



9. Q. Is a Southern cow pea, a pea or a bean ? 



A. It is a bean ; the outward and unscientific distinction between 

 peas and beans being that, as a rule, beans have fleshy edible pods, dis- 

 tinctly marked eyes, smooth surface and of a far greater variation of color 

 than peas. 



10. Q. Have bearded wheats any advantage over beardless sorts ? 



A. Bearded wheats possess a higher percentage of gluten than beard- 

 less variety, and as gluten is the essentially nutritive element, its percent- 

 age is a most important matter. The people of new wheat countries, aa 



